Yucatán lawmakers have rejected an amendment to the state’s constitution that would have allowed same-sex marriage.

The state Congress voted 15 to 9 against taking out wording in the constitution that affirms heterosexual marriage as the only union recognized by state law.

Article 94, which states that reproduction is the implicit goal of marriage, was added to the constitution in 2009 after a non-governmental organization, Red Pro Yucatán, gathered over 9,000 signatures urging Congress to pass legislation to ban same-sex marriage.

PAN congresswoman Rosa Adriana Díaz Lizama, who had previously made public her intention to vote against the amendment, proposed that the vote be anonymous and videos and cameras kept away from the chamber during the procedure.

Critical response to the decision soon followed.

A spokesperson for the Collective for the Protection of All Yucatán Families said the decision was an affront to families in the state.

“As long as there are families that are treated as second-class and don’t receive the same acknowledgement under the law, it cannot be said that there are protections for families in the Yucatán,” said Carlos Escoffié Duarte.

He said it was contradictory to argue against same-sex marriage under the pretext of protecting families, because the amendment’s failure will effectively mean that many families made up of same-sex couples will be prohibited from receiving a wide range of social benefits.

Several activists and lawmakers promised to fight the decision and a hashtag to help do so was launched on Twitter: #YaEsHoraYucatán (Now is the time, Yucatán).

Escoffié Duarte insisted that for his organization, the vote would not be the final word on the matter.

“This isn’t the end . . . We are going to continue and we aren’t going to disband until they recognize the rights of everyone to form a family.”

Source: ADN Político (sp), Animal Político (sp)